The Demise of the CDM Co-ordinator

With CDM in the news at the moment, even more so with the new update being due for release early next year, there is the interesting case of a breach of the CDM regulations recently.

On Thursday (27th November) an architect's practice was fined for failing to provide contractors with sufficient relevant information about the flammability of the timber frame used in the construction of a new care home building in October 2012.

“A routine inspection of the work by a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector found that the separation distance between the new timber frame building under construction and an adjacent occupied care home was insufficient.

As a result, had the timber frame caught fire there was a serious risk that the radiant heat would cause the fire to spread to the care home, putting the lives of residents and staff inside at risk.

HSE found that there was nothing in the design specification produced by the architects to alert construction workers erecting the timber frame to the additional fire risk it created, and the need to take action accordingly.”

Clearly this was a situation where the CDMc would, or should, have had an input and advised the architect accordingly. This begs the question of whether the removal of the CDMc role, as proposed by the new regulations, will not only make situations like this worse, but also more commonplace.